Angie Heimann and Cass Sochacki are a match made in folk heaven. Their story sounds like it could be straight out of an odd yet beautiful folk song. After growing up in the Kent area for most of her life, Angie decided to split for Mendocino, California about nine years ago. When she got there, she integrated pretty quickly by living with, of all things, a rural circus named The Flynn Creek Circus.

Kent Stage

While she was working on the circus’ float for the Fouth of July Parade, she met a guitar player named Cass. Since then, they’ve been making music together, most often with a full band backing them up. But tonight it’s just the two of them, playing folksy originals for a small crowd in the alleyway of the Kent Stage.

Cass carefully tunes up his guitar for each song as Angie fills time with funny, off the cuff banter, sometimes with Cass, sometimes with the crowd, sometimes just with herself. But she gives him plenty of time because, as she says, “We have to respect the capo.”

Angie’s songwriting is based heavily on personal experience, both conscious and unconscious. Several of her songs she said were about dreaming or were derived from dreams.

“I do wake up a lot with sort of a seed of something on my mind or an idea,” she says.

She adds that another common theme in her music is love. “A lot of them, for me, are sort of how to navigate in love and how to do it while still remaining strong in yourself.” Angie makes this apparent with a strong stage presence, mellow vocals and beautiful guitar playing. Her preformance is only enhanced by the chemistry shared between the two together, giving fans an honest dose of original folk.

She plans on staying in California but the two hope to return later with their full band for an eastern tour.

“I’ve been in California for nine years,” she says. “It feels good to be back.”

-Denver Collins

Popularity: 16% [?]

On Wednesday night Miniature Tigers, a four piece band hailing from Phoenix, hit the stage at Musica for a mellow show.  The band took the stage just past ten o’clock after three opening bands got the crowd rocking.  By the time Miniature Tigers began their set, there had already been almost three hours of great music before them.

Even though Miniature Tigers aren’t from the area, they still made a real effort to relate to their crowd, talking about LeBron James and other issues that relate specifically to Akron area residents.  It makes a big difference when a band tries to relate well to their audience instead of just running through their set list.  Too often bands think that that is all they have to do to put on a great show, but it’s the small things like this that truly separate decent shows from unforgettable ones.  Miniature Tigers also made an effort to include the audience in as many of the songs as they could, inviting them to sing along if they know the words or just to clap with them to the beat.  It was impossible not to have fun and get involved in some way with the show.

The band played a mix of songs both old and new, from their debut EPs to their most recent album, which was released a few weeks ago.  The older songs were unsurprisingly better performed than the newer ones, simply because Miniature Tigers has had more time to practice them.  But the new songs show a great deal of promise as well.  The song the band opened with had a 50’s rock ‘n’ roll feel to it.  The audience really liked the song and it was a great way to open the show.

Even though Miniature Tigers has only been together for a few years, they really have their stuff together; they work well together on stage and can read what the others are thinking with just a glance.  They are incredibly talented musicians.  The instrumental sections of their songs were mind-blowing, and when vocals were added, it made them that much better.  If you have ever had the opportunity to see Miniature Tigers then you know exactly what I’m talking about.  If you haven’t heard them yet, check them out at soon as possible.  Rolling Stone named Miniature Tigers as one of the “25 best bands on MySpace” and they definitely are.  Check them out on the web or at one of their numerous live shows in the coming months.  This band is undeniably going to make some waves throughout their career and you won’t want to miss it.  Miniature Tigers’ show on Wednesday night was one of the best shows of the summer.

Popularity: 7% [?]

By: Julia Kazar

Thursday night kicked off the Brackish Water Band’s summer tour.  The first stop for the country/ bluegrass band was Annabell’s in Akron.  They played a two hour set upstairs in the lounge that was full of foot-tapping and good times.  It was a show filled to the brim with southern voices as well as sounds, and it was perfect for a summer night.

If you’ve ever been to Annabell’s you know just how small the stage is upstairs, now imagine trying to squeeze four musicians and their instruments on the stage.  It’s not exactly very roomy but if the Brackish Water Band was cramped up there, they never showed it.  Only a few times during the night did they have to take a moment and reconfigure their set up, and that was only because they were switching instruments, not because of any space issues.  The four piece band made the most of the small space.

“Now I Feel Like I’m Dying” was the biggest hit of the night, the band dedicated it to some of their friends who were in the audience and to married people in general.  The crowd sang along and just had a great time throughout the whole song.  It was a slow, somewhat somber song that talks about love and its benefits and drawbacks.  Something that really makes this band great is that even though they are a country band, they don’t overemphasize it when singing songs.  Often time’s country singers seem to put too much twang into their voices, but with the Brackish Water Band, they sing with a nice mix of country twang and heart and soul.  This unique combination is one of the things that will set this band apart from all the others out there.

Another popular song that night was “Country Music Fight Club.”  As the song ended one of the band members joked, “people generally break out in fights when we play this song, we’re not sure why.”  That is just the kind of guys they are; they like to make sure that their audience enjoys their show and they will do what ever it takes to make sure that happens.  They also joked later, “If you want us to play better songs, buy us more to drink!”  But with or without the help of alcohol the show that the Brackish Water Band put on was fantastic and fun.

If you haven’t heard of the Brackish Water Band yet, check out their music on MySpace right away.  Or, even better, go see them at one of their many shows on their tour that is continuing through the end of August.  If you like country and bluegrass music you won’t be disappointed by this band.

Popularity: 3% [?]

By: Denver Collins

The Greens, from Morgantown, West Virginia, are a southern trio who like to get down to some dirty soulful rock.  They’ve made a name for themselves touring throughout Appalachia and are now branching out into Ohio.  In the current musical climate, this can be hard, save for a few establishments such as the Lighthouse Bar at the Olde Harbor Inn in Portage Lakes where The Greens played July 24th.

“We’re on fire in our realm, but as soon as we step out into the other realm we need help,” says lead singer and guitarist Andy Tuck.  The landscape of the music industry is shifting, putting a lot more weight on the shoulders of the artists themselves.

“We do everything ourselves in terms of the booking and promotion,” he says.  “But a lot of times, we’re stonewalled because we’re not in the scene.”  Without a strong fanbase already intact, many bar and club owners are hesitant to book acts from outside the local scene, regardless of musical chops.

“We got the music methods down, but the marketing methods we’re still workin on,” Andy says.

Bands trying to operate in the changing music scene need to have a grasp on either side of the music.  “You gotta have both, especially since we can’t expect to get signed to a record label anymore.  Record companies are done.  So we just have to wear every hat,” Andy says.

Their music is a strong mixture of classic rock influences, producing hard, grainy, soulful jams that bring rock’n'roll back to its bluesy roots, a style that’s been catching on throughout the Rustbelt.  “As far as influences, I never really got past Led Zepplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Black Sabbath,” Andy says, adding that they also listen to a lot of blues and jazz.  Among their powerful, down-home original songs, they played a few better known songs, such as a spot-on cover of Cream’s “Strange Brew”.  The crowd wasn’t big but it was receptive and the Greens took another small step towards breaking into the Northeast Ohio scene.

“Right now, we’re just maintaining our status as weekend warriors,” Andy says.

Popularity: 17% [?]

By Mark C. Horn

It was a night of glam and slam on stage this past Wednesday as two of punk rock’s founding fathers showcased their new creation, Batusis, at the Beachland Ballroom.  Despite the deaths of Dolls greats Arthur Killer Kane and Johnny Thunders, and the Dead Boys’ Stiv Bators, the surviving leaders of those two bands are more than alive and kicking as they paid homage to their fallen comrades.

Legendary Dead Boys guitarist Cheetah Chrome and New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain showed why they are still rocking three-plus decades later.  The two were joined by onetime Cult drummer Lez Warner and Joan Jett bassist Sean Koos, performing a mixture of old punk classics along with all four songs from the debut Batusis release during a raucous hour-plus set.

Chrome, known for his buzz-saw guitar attacks and carrot-top appearance, looked even more menacing than the old days with his chrome dome, while Sylvain sported his funky hat and neckerchief with glam flare.  Most important, despite only having been touring for a few weeks, the set came off for the most part very tight despite a lackadaisical response from the audience.

From the Bastusis EP, Sylvain sang the more streetwise NY Doll-esque “What You Lack in Brains” while Chrome offered up vengeful vocals on “Bury You Alive”.  The other two EP cuts, both instrumentals (“Blues Theme” and “Big Cat Stomp”) gave the two guitarists the opportunity to spotlight their veteran guitar chops.

Sylvain also sang Dolls’ classics “Trash”, Jetyboy” and the Johnny Thunders’ “I Wanna Be Loved” and Chrome sang the punk anthem “Sonic Reducer”.  For an encore, the band performed the Batman Theme punk style where the birth of the Batusi dance began.

In all, Batusis is a formidable rock supergroup that has a wealth of old punk classics to pull from, and their upcoming debut full-length release should further that rebirth of raw, unbridled brash punk music.  They could most assuredly teach today’s alternative bands a thing or two.

Popularity: 14% [?]

By Mark C. Horn

Singer-guitar player Erika Wennerstrom and drummer Dave Colvin are no strangers to The Beachland Ballroom.

The two members of Heartless Bastards have played the familiar Cleveland venue as members of the Dayton group Shesus as well as with their current band of greater renown.

So the comfort level with which they and bass player Jesse Ebaugh, guitarist Mark Nathan and fiddle player Zy Orange Lyn hit the stage with was aptly familiar.  Wennerstrom strolled out onto the stage, sporting a mid-length, creme-colored business dress and rattle snake pumps.  How was she going to rock the house in that?

The answer was quite simply – she just did.

The Bastards played before a crowd of 250 and blazed through a 70-minute set which included a balanced offering from its three albums, Streets and Elevators, All The Time and The Mountain.

Not one to provide much banter in between numbers, Wennerstrom used her powerful and unique vocals to sway the crowd into  a fixed rock’n'roll hypnosis as she opened with the hard rocking “Done Got Old.”

The crowd favorites were all there, from the head-boppin “Out at Sea”, “Sway”, “Into the Open” and the trance-like “Nothing Feels the Same,” to the calming, more folksy sounds of “Be So Happy” and “So Quiet”.  The latter was enriched by fiddler Lyn’s melodic playing.  Wennerstrom pleaded with the electrified crowd to tone down so she could be heard on the ballads.  They complied and were treated to the softer side of this lady rocker known for her raw and powerful chops.

Additional key numbers were “Had To Go” a number that began slow and built to a frenzied crescendo and then back down.  “Hold Your Head High” and “All this Time” also followed.  It was on the Bastards’ third album title track “The Mountain”, most familiar with the teeming crowd, that many sang along with Wennerstrom as Ebaugh deftly played the song’s trademark slide.  The band encored with two numbers highlighted by “Runnin’”.

Heartless Bastards will more than likely be back after its next album is out, and if the show Thursday is a foreshadowing to that future date, even more familiar fans will know that this band comes ready to play all the time.

Two-piece Minneapolis band Peter Wolf Crier opened the night with a hard edge sound as can be expected from two.  However, it was second act, The Builders and The Butchers, who set the table for the Bastards with their unique American Gothic sound that quickly got the crowd’s attention.

Popularity: 9% [?]

By: Julia Kazar

On Saturday night, Barberton’s The Heights Band took the stage at The Backstage Concert Club in Akron for an amazing show.  According to their Facebook page, their motto is “rocking hard and loud” and they definitely lived up to it that night.  Before The Heights Band took the stage Tweaktronic and the Woovs both played, getting the crowd pumped up for the headliners to take the stage.

Made up of brothers Ryan and Dustin Dockery, Kyle Finley and Richie Levers, THB looks like a bunch of guys you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of, but in reality they are some of the nicest guys you could ever meet.  Throughout the show they constantly thanked everyone for coming out to see them, as well as their families and everyone else who has helped them achieve everything they have worked so hard for.  Everyone in the band was so humble and grateful for all the support they have gotten, both that night, and in the past.  Not what you would expect from these guys at all.

The Heights Band opened their show with a song called “Dirty Woman.” And from the screaming opening notes on the electric guitar it was clear that this show was going to rock.  Although most of the crowd was laid back and  relaxed while listening to the music,  a few people danced along to every song the band played.  They had a great time  and everyone else had a great time watching them.  As the night went on, they even got a few more people to come up and dance with them.

Later in the show the band played a song called “Surrender Your Penny”, which is a song about being able to have a good time even if you don’t have a lot of money.  The audience loved it.  Whether they had heard it before or not, by the end of it they were singing along.  It was another blisteringly loud song with indecipherable lyrics throughout most of it.  What really made it such a stand out song though is that there is a part where everyone in the band stops playing, and took a drink together with everyone in the audience.

Saturday night was a night of drinking, debauchery and rock music.  The Heights Band is, without a doubt, one of the most talented rock groups out there today and they are only going to keep getting better.  If you missed out on the incredible show, they are playing at The Northside on August 14th.  If you were one of the lucky people who were actually at the show, then you know just how talented these guys are.  They are definitely a band to watch.

Popularity: 5% [?]

By: Julia Kazan

Local country/rock artists The Carter Twins, who come from the Hudson area, took the stage on Thursday night at Musica.  The show was a combination of the twin’s original songs and cover songs.  It’s impressive to think that these two guys who haven’t yet lived through two full decades have been able to accomplish so much and become so successful.  But they still have a long way to go.

The Carter Twins just released their debut EP, Carter Twins, at the end of last year.  The album includes their smash hit, “Heart Like Memphis”, a song that has gained them national attention.  At the show on Thursday they played this song, along with many others off their EP including another well known single, “So What.”  The video for this song has been on CMT frequently.

For two guys who are  just starting out in the music business they definitely show a lot of talent.  They just need to take a little time and hone it to perfection.  A lot of their songs are sung in exactly the same way, showing very little emotional range or feeling.  This was especially obvious when they covered the classic Tom Petty song “Free Falling.”  The original does such a great job of conveying that feeling of freedom after you break up with somebody you were never really meant to be with in the first place, but the twins sang it in a monotone, expressionless style.

That’s not to say that all the songs were disappointing.  Their cover of John Mellencamp’s “Small Town” was not only appropriate (coming from such a small town themselves) but was also one of the best songs of the night.  Josh and Zach even got the audience to help them sing it.  The whole band did a good job of making the song their own. They changed the classic song into a much more complex rock song.  It almost seemed like they were angry for being from a small town.  The crowd also had a lot of fun singing along with the band.

Another great song that The Carter Twins did was called “Nobody Does it Like You.”  Throughout the whole song, Josh’s guitar playing by was phenomenal.  Zach’s singing was also great but, once again, he just needed to show a little more emotion in his voice.

But if the twins need a little bit of work, the crowd didn’t seem to notice at all.  “The show is awesome and The Carter Twins are awesome,” Sally Armstrong said.  “I keep them on my iPod because their songs pump me up!”  And all night the whole crowd was pumped up, singing along with the songs and dancing; having a good time.  Even if everything isn’t quite perfect yet, The Carter Twins still put on a show that is not to be missed!

Popularity: 9% [?]

By Denver Collins

It’s a weekend of salty beats, thundering bass and new inventive music at Camp Bisco 2010, a three-day festival put on by Philadelphia jamtronic pioneers, The Disco Biscuits, near Mariaville, New York.

Capitalizing on the explosion of experimental rock-infused electronica that’s been evolving while redefining the festival scene over the past decade, Camp Bisco celebrates the fusion of hip hop, house trance, reggae and rock.  It’s also a chance for fans to experience new bands, new faces and new sounds in an ever-growing genre of live music.

The Disco Biscuits first put the festival together in 1999 for around 900 fans.  Since then, it has expanded tremendously, with 10,000 in 2009 and an estimated 15,000 fans this year.  With a powerhouse line-up of headliners, including LCD Soundsystem (on a worldwide tour to promote their new album This Is Happening), Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, Bassnectar, Theivery Corportion and Ween, Camp Bisco has become one of the summer’s best small festivals.

The big-name acts’ performances are delegated to two main stages, set up next to each other so that as soon as one act ends, the next is ready to rock.  In addition to the main stages, there are two smaller stages for less-known performers; a “local” stage set up just outside the main venue area for up-and-coming acts and a dance tent for more elecrtonic-oriented artists.  These areas allow fans to find out about new artists and experience different music.  The hidden gems at these stages are often some of the most memorable performances, heightened by their excitement of finding new fans and playing such a well-known festival.

One such group, C-Mon and Kypski, brought their funky dance-trance from the Netherlands to the Dance Tent.  They play drums, bass, guitar and keys over a variety of samples, sometimes hip-hop, sometimes Eastern European music that sounds like a mix between polka and Russian waltz.

“It’s called klezmer,” explains Simon Akkermans, aka C-Mon.  It’s a traditional Yiddish form of music, normally played by accordian, violin and piano, often used in wedding celebrations.  “When we came across it, we liked it so much we just started sampling it,” he says.  While it’s definitely different from what most in the audience are used to hearing, with C-Mon and Kyski’s fast beats and enthusiastic performance, the crowd is up and dancing.

“It’s no different than playing anywhere else,” C-mon says.  “Everyone is here to have a good time, and that’s what we try to do.”

But Camp Bisco is about more than just new music.  There is also an incredible amount of impressive artwork in many different disciplines.  Standard canvas paintings can be seen selling at various campsites and vendors’ tents, in addition to giant wooden boards placed around the venue allowing for eclectic spray-paint art from various artists.  And a new artist named Jumbie blew minds with his LED-backlit posters, a perfect complement to the technologically inspired music.

The posters are basically layered images put together in Photoshop, which takes Jumbie anywhere from 8 to 30 hours to make, “depending on how crazy I get with it,” he says.  Using a variety of colors, opacities and images, the posters are mosaics in which, when put under color-changing lighting, some parts disappear while others are highlighted, making the image seem to move and reshape itself into something different.

He discovered this talent by accident, actually.  About two years ago, he had designed some posters and wanted to show them to a friend.  He had no light, but had a color-changing glowstick and held it up to the poster.

“I was like ‘no way, man.’  I’ve eaten a lot of drugs in my day, but there’s nothing in the world that can make the words disappear off the page,” he says.  His new kind of art mixed with software and electronics is exactly the type of technological innovation that is one of the the truly alluring aspects of Camp Bisco.

Among the art, music, mud and beer, the fans at Bisco are pleased overall.  There were a few snafus, however.  Wu Massacre came on late after Ghostface Killah neglected to show up, and Break Science with Talib Kweli and Dave Murphy also came late, switching slots with SOJA and then only playing for about a half-hour.  Rain and lightening delays kept Girl Talk and The Disco Biscuits from playing their final sets on Saturday night, but eventually the clouds parted and the crowds partied to some late-night jams.  With solid sets by Bassnectar, LCD Soundsystem, Ween and everyone else, the fans left satisfied with ringing ears, sore feet and raised expectations for Camp Bisco 2011.

Popularity: 13% [?]

By: Julia Kazar

Buzzbin Casey with Theory of a Deadman

If you were lucky enough to be at the Clay’s Park Rock N’ Resort Music Festival on Saturday then you know just how incredible the Theory Of A Deadman show was.  After a full day of tribute and original rock bands, and Hoobastank, the crowd at Clay’s Park was in the mood to rock.  Saturday was the second day of rock music, sun and beer drinking for many members of the audience, but if they were tired in any way, they didn’t show it.  The show was packed with energy, both from the band and the crowd.

The sun had set and it had cooled off a little bit by 9:30 when TOAD took the stage to heat things up again.  Formed in 2001, Theory has released three albums so far, all of which have become successful.  They are planning on recording their fourth album in the upcoming months, in between this North American tour and one in European early next year.  TOAD is definitely keeping busy and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

The show on Saturday couldn’t have been better.  It was a mix of songs from their entire catalog.  Throughout the night they mixed in their biggest hits, instead of playing a bunch of songs that people might not know and then bombarding the audience with their hits at the end of the show.  This way the audience was into the whole set.  By far the most popular song of the night was “I Hate My Life” off of their most recent album Scars & Souvenirs.  The crowd joined in and sang along with so much passion and feeling that you would think the band wrote the song specifically for this audience.

Don’t get the wrong idea about Theory or the audience that night though, they really aren’t a bunch of miserable people who just complain all the time.  The crowd also loved more positive songs like “So Happy,” a song about moving on after a relationship is over, and “Santa Monica”, another song that is about a relationship ending.  Tyler Connolly, the lead singer and guitar player, said before starting the song, “There is a place on our website where you guys can tell us what songs you want us to play, and this is one of the most requested.”

Theory of a Deadman might be one of the most popular rock bands out there today, but they aren’t arrogant or obnoxious about it.  Instead they take the time to thank their fans for listening to them and coming out to see them between just about every song.  “We would be nothing without you!” they shouted at one point during the night.  It’s nice to see a band that understands that and lets their fans know.  Theory of a Deadman knows how to put on a great show and make their fans happy.

Popularity: 8% [?]